The Journal

Media Credit: Theo Welling Bruce Umbaugh (right), associate professor in the philosophy department and head of the Global Citizenship Project Task Force speaks with Roy Tamashiro (left) and Kit Jenkins (middle). The group met Friday, Sept. 18 in the Webster University Emerson Library.

The Webster University faculty is in the process of developing a new general education program.

The faculty senate created a task force of about 20 WU faculty members, called the Global Citizenship Project Taskforce, to come up with recommendations for a new general education curriculum. The plan is to develop a new program and have it in place for the incoming class in fall 2011. Current WU students will not be affected by changes to the general education program.

"When we received our successful 10 year accreditation from the higher learning commission, even when you're successful they want to recommend ways where you can continue to improve," said Bill Lynch, president of the Faculty Senate and professor in the theater and dance department. "One of the recommendations was that Webster University revisits its general education program."

Every faculty member interviewed for this story agreed that the current general education program is outdated and needs to be changed.

"It's pretty irrational," said David Carl Wilson, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "It's kind of grown like a coral reef. A faculty member comes up with a good idea for a new course and wants to be sure that they get some students in, so they get it approved for general education."

Bruce Umbaugh, chairperson of the task force and an associate professor in the philosophy department, blames it on its age.

"The general program that we have went into effect in 1994; it was approved two years before and it took several years to design," he said. "So, depending on how you want to count it, it's as much as 20 years old."

The current general education program is the first one adopted by WU.

"There was probably an ill-advised suggestion that we tie our general education program to our mission statement," said Kelly-Kate Pease, a professor in the history, politics and international relations department. "I think this is what caused a lot of the controversy - at least among the faculty - because giving somebody a broad general education is different than preparing someone for global citizenship."

Global citizenship is part of WU's mission statement and one of four core values, the others being students, learning and diversity. But exactly how global citizenship will be incorporated into the curriculum remains unclear.

"We're starting from the mission of the university and moving to the mission that the Senate has articulated for a new general education program in terms of global citizenship," Umbaugh said. "The next thing the task force wants to do is to make recommendations on what the learning outcomes should be for a program that meets that mission."

Lynch said he understands some of the complaints from the faculty about using global citizenship to describe the new general education program.

"Let's assume that it's just a catchy title, the problem is this: The university has used the word that is central to its mission, therefore the faculty has an opportunity that makes that not just a catchy word but to make that word represent core skills," Lynch said. "What are the elements that an individual would need to be transformed to participate as a responsible global citizen?"

The answer to that question, however, is still being debated. Mandatory foreign language courses and studying abroad are possible solutions, but not very likely to become required general education courses.

"I'm all in favor for the global citizenship aspect," said Peter Sargent, dean of the Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts. "I would always encourage students to explore the world, but I don't think we can make it a requirement."

Students in the College of Fine Arts need 133 credit hours to graduate, compared to the 128 credit hours other departments require.

Transfer students are one reason the senate should consider before making drastic changes to the general education program, Pease said.

"We get transfer students who come in with an associate degree," Pease said.

"They don't have to meet gen. ed. requirements now. So, if we take transfer students who come in from St. Louis Community College, we're going to vouch that they are global citizens?"

Transfer students make up a significant portion of WU's full-time undergraduate students. Of a total 751 new full-time undergraduate students, 277 were transfer students in the fall 2009 semester.

"It seems like that would be a deterrent for people who want to come to Webster to learn computer science or to do graphic design, or whatever they are here to study," Pease said.

Faculty members realize it is still early in the process and too soon to predict what the new general education program will look like.

"I don't think many people on the task force have a clear idea of what they want to achieve," Wilson said. "I think they have the general notion in mind that this is going to be something that's distinctive, that's proficiency oriented and that's oriented toward global citizenship, which is part of our mission."

The task force will continue to hold meetings and discussions and hopes to have a proposal ready to present to the Faculty Senate by spring 2010.

"General education has always in part been designed for citizenship," Wilson said. "This goes back to medieval times, when part of the notion of the evolution of universities was that this was preparing people to be citizens."

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